City of Hampton

Hampton was actually a really neat anchorage. The winds were BLOWING! It seems we have gotten the tail end of Hurricane Lee and will have to deal with some strong winds followed by rainy weather. Nothing compared to what is happening at home, but still not ideal for boating. But our anchor held FAST. So fast that Dave was worried we were going to have to un-dig it from the ground. We didn't. It was nice sticking so well even though the sound of the wind ripping through the boat is a very unpleasant one and even more unpleasant when you think the only thing holding me from crashing into that solid concrete bridge is a little piece of steal and some rope.

We stayed 2 nights in Hampton, which was a city with a very friendly marina and park. They had a free dinghy dock for general use that made it super easy to walk the dogs and get to the uber we needed to get the things we needed to fix all the things we needed to fix. Once again, Dave dove and repaired a propeller. Not to brag, but I came up with the solution for fixing our solar - unplug it and plug it back in. We are waiting on the oil issue as previously said and our Medicare audit, thanks 1010% to our colleague, Yahaira (with a little help from Aimee), went swimmingly well. Dave and I had great cell availability to get online and get documents that were needed and answer all the questions of the auditor. So all in all, that bad afternoon turned out just fine, if a little expensive (propellers are not cheap) and time consuming.

With the weather being what it is, we have spent A LOT of time going over where we are headed and how. I really don't like being at anchor when the wind is blowing. Dave hates spending $80/night on a dock. So we negotiate like crazy. It works out fine so far. Stay tuned.......

We headed out from Hampton through Norfolk, which we will love to visit if we bring the boat back to CT, and down the beginning of the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW). We LOVED it. It reminded us of home and our river and was so picturesque. Again, we really like Virginia (except the bugs!) and the waterway towns are so pretty.

What Could Go Right? Thank God nothing major is going on. Other than the wind, we really are facing an easy day of travel today into tomorrow. Dave is truly amazing in what he can do. People would spend thousands and thousands fixing things he fixes with $10 and his ingenuity. (I really wish it was only $10 we were spending, but you get the point.)

What Could Go Wrong? The dogs are loving boat life overall. The boat has become their home so much they are happy to return and they each find their happy place on board - Cookie with fetch and Duke with a lap. But all this "making it home" means they are very protective of their space which means they can be very vocal at every single thing that passes by. Pedestrian, car, jet ski, other dog, even the birds get a vocal remonstration from our two vicious attack terriers. Cookie even jumped off the boat this morning, which she hasn't done yet, to chase down a local walker and her dog! We are working on this behavior, because as you can imagine, on a dock, neighbors don't love protective vocal pets!Read more